Achieving a Doubly Green Revolution

“Over the past 50 years, humans have changed these ecosystems more rapidly and extensively than in any comparable period of time in human history, largely to meet rapidly growing demands for food, fresh water, timber, fibre, and fuel.”1 This mode of development is having a brutal effect on other living species: in 2008, 22% of the 26,604 mammals were threatened with extinction and the IUCN2 added that “it is increasingly evident that climate change is going to become one of the main causes of species extinction in the 21st century.” 3 Even though international climate negotiations scheduled for December in Copenhagen may well reach a stalemate over financing issues, warnings about environmental imbalances are of greater concern than ever. From the scientific community’s vantage point, climate, natural resources and biodiversity must be preserved, inasmuch as the loss of one species or one resource affects the entire ecosystem on which the survival and progress of human societ depends.